Most Plug-in hybrid owners don't plug in....

[Robert_Alabama]

General Motors CEO Mary Barra, speaking this week at the Automotive Press Association conference in Detroit, touched on this reality when she discussed GM’s plans for electric and hybrid vehicles.

“What we also know today with plug-in hybrids is that most people don’t plug them in,” Barra said. “So that’s why we’re trying to be very thoughtful about what we do from a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid perspective.”

Where do they get this information and how do they represent it as such a fact? I've never known any phev owners that don't plug-in. Guess I don't get around enough. But I find this statement hard to believe at least in the United States. Of course, I've been limited to Volt and Clarity owners which had reasonably sized batteries, but those owners are pretty serious to plug in whenever it is an option. I guess maybe it is also true that gasoline and electricity breakeven prices are different than they are here. It is generally half as expensive to use electricity (off-peak residential price) as gasoline here with gasoline running $2.75 or so per gallon. We also still have a reasonable number of free level 2 chargers at workplaces and at retail shopping centers, hotels, and other commercial locations. Generally paid Level 2 public chargers are about the same or a little more expensive than gasoline, but I'll still use them if they are convenient. I guess I can see if those economics shift because gasoline is always less costly than electricity that I would change my behavior.

 

[David Towle]

I'm sure the ones that get used as rental cars never get plugged in. I had a Jeep PHEV a few months ago for 4 days. Waste of batteries.

 

[lanb]

Rental customers and apartment residents probably don't plug-in. That being said, companies will spin whatever they do for financial and political reasons.

 

[NorCalPete]

That being said, companies will spin whatever they do for financial and political reasons.

This. Everyone that I know personally who owns a PHEV (12+ individuals/cars) charges it as often as possible, and all have more EV than gas miles on their vehicles. Anecdotal data, I know, but I suspect that this better reflects the typical PHEV owner.

 

[Robert_Alabama]

I wouldn't have thought that a lot of phevs ended up at apartment complexes or as rental vehicles. I guess rental companies may buy whatever looks like the most profitable vehicle for them. Here in Alabama, I know that two of the three apartment complexes my sons have lived in had chargers available, one had them as complimentary, one was pay at about 0.35/kWh.

 

[insightman]

Before California's Clean Air Vehicle Vehicle decal program ended on 10/1/25, many Californians drove plug-in vehicles so they could use the High Occupancy Vehicle (carpool) lanes even when the driver was the vehicle's only occupant. Driving PHEVs (rather than BEVs) in the HOV lanes enabled these drivers to avoid traffic jams, bothersome passengers, and the need to ever to plug in their vehicles.

I'd guess more PHEVs were sold in California than in any other state and that usage scenario is what gave Mary Barra the idea that PHEVs don't get plugged in.

 

[Robert_Alabama]

Leave it to our regulators and regulations to incent the particular use of a vehicle, then those analyzing the data assume that use was due to the natural behavior of owners of that type of vehicle instead of behavior being incented by the regulations (causing those who would never have bought a phev to buy one and then drive it like a normal hybrid just to get benefits/privileges). I guess the same thing would happen if phevs were priced at half of the price of comparable hybrids or gasoline vehicles. A lot of people would buy phevs just because they were cheap, but wouldn't plug them in.
It is true that these weren't the reasons anyone I know that own phevs bought them. Maybe that's why all phev owners I know try to squeeze out pretty much every electric mile within reason from their cars....

 

[Landshark]

Below are screenshots from a couple articles on the subject. The short story is that the EPA isn’t getting the results they expected, so the oversimplified conclusion reached by an industry executive is that owners aren’t plugging them in.

One would suspect that she knows better. I’d kindly categorize her statement as stretching the truth unless evidence is provided that more than 50% of PHEV owners never plug them in, because that is what she is stating as fact.

The reasons why the EPA isn’t seeing the results they expected are many.
First, they established unreasonable expectations. In their defense, those expectations were what everyone wanted to hear, so that’s what they predicted would happen. The second hinges off the first and that is actual driving habits are different than anticipated. That’s one reason why they see more fuel consumption and less EV mileage than the vehicle is capable of providing. The third and fourth are nuances that have been discussed on this forum. Those being how the vehicle operates with a depleted battery and limiting battery charging to less than a full charge. Many owners aren’t using the full capacity of the battery for one reason or another. A fifth factor is operating the vehicle in cold temperatures where EV range can be reduced by 30-40%.

It’s really no mystery why manufacturers are revising their vehicle lineups. What’s unfortunate is that they can even come close to being honest about it.